The EQF is a common European reference framework which links countries' qualifications systems together, acting as a translation device to make qualifications more readable and understandable across different countries and systems in Europe. In this context, Tuning could bridge the European Qualification Framework (EQF) for Life Long Learning (LLL) and the Qualification Framework (QF) for the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) as well as bridging the subject area level and the general descriptors of both qualification frameworks. What is really required now are frameworks which offer descriptors and reference points at mediate level, more general than at subject area level and more precise than at the level of the EQF for LLL and the QF for the EHEA (the Dublin descriptors).

The project seeks to develop a credit based sectoral qualification framework for the sector / domain of the Social Sciences. The framework is intended to cover the levels 3 to 8 of the European Qualification Framework (EQF) for Life Long Learning (LLL). The achievement of such a framework as an intermediate level between the subject area level and the general level of the EQF will facilitate the recognition of prior (formal, informal and non formal) learning by developing clear reference points. It will also contribute to the relationship of higher and general education and vocational education and training. A sector or domain is understood here as a combination of related fields of study which is based on more or less comparable learning profiles.